MIGRATION

Nigeria has faulted claims that there were 30,000 of its citizens as irregular migrants in Germany who are awaiting repatriation. The Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, Alhaji Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, said on Wednesday that Nigeria disputes the figure. “To begin with, we dispute that figure of 30,000. That is not the case. We do not have up to 30,000 Nigerian asylum …

The German Federal Office for Migration and Asylum (BAMF) will re-examine some 18,000 cases in which refugees were granted asylum in Germany, the agency’s director, Jutta Cordt, has announced. The inspection will cover all successful asylum applications filed as far back as 2000, she added while addressing a press conference on Friday. The measure will be applied to all asylum …

The UN migration agency has announced that 700 Ghanaian migrants have been repatriated from Libya since June last year as part of a program on voluntary assisted repatriations in co-operation with the European Union. A total of 706 Ghanaian migrants (661 men and 45 women) who were stranded in Libya have been assisted to return home since June 2017 as …

 Germany has put forward a new proposal for the repatriation of some 30,000 undocumented Nigerian migrants to their home country. Dr Jan Hecker, foreign policy adviser to Chancellor Angela Merkel, visited Abuja last week to hold talks with Nigerian officials on the deportation plan. In an exclusive interview with the German international broadcaster, Deutsche Welle (DW), Nigeria’s Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama …

The Schengen area comprises of European countries that have abolished passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. The area mostly functions as a single jurisdiction for international travel purposes, with a common visa policy. The Schengen Agreement, which seeks to create a single European territory devoid of internal borders, was signed by five European Union …

The European Commission is proposing to upgrade the Visa Information System (VIS), the database containing information on persons applying for Schengen visas, in order to better respond to evolving security and migratory challenges. A proposal by the European Commission on Wednesday to upgrade the Visa Information System (VIS) aims to make it easier for police to identify people not permitted …

The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR has urged the Austrian government to keep the protection of refugees at the centre of draft amendments to the country’s asylum law. The UNHCR has presented a juridical analysis of the draft amendments to Austria’s asylum law, urging the Austrian government to uphold its commitment to protect sensitive asylum policies. The organization expressed ”concern” about …

Germany granted residence permit to some 35,000 Eritrean refugees last year. This entitles them to bring their families over. But not all are successful. Daniel Pelz of Deutsche Welle (DW) reports on the reasons for this. With its population of around five million, Eritrea is one of the main countries of origin of African refugees. Young people especially are among …

The German Cabinet has approved legislation allowing refugees with subsidiary protection status to bring their direct relatives to Germany. Critics say that the bill breaches human rights, and that it will force more migrants to put their fate in the hands of people-smugglers. Marion MacGregor of Deutsche Welle (DW) reports. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Cabinet on Wednesday voted to resettle …

Since 13 April 2018, a delegation of the Dortmund, Germany-based association AfricanTide Union e.V. has been in Yenagoa, the capital of the Nigerian state of Bayelsa. Although the region, situated in the Niger Delta, has high oil and gas reserves, the population suffers from high levels of poverty and unemployment. Many people therefore are fleeing the region, even to Europe. …

Around every second migrant in Germany fails the language test at the end of integration courses, a newspaper reports. It suggests a lack of adequate attendance could be one factor in the low success rate. More than half of refugees and migrants to Germany are unable to pass a basic language test at the end of integration courses offered to …

A group of 121 migrants from Cameroon have returned home from Libya. The migrants were flown home on a charter flight as part of a program promoted by the European Union. The Cameroonian migrants returned home from Libya to start a new life with assistance from IOM, the UN Migration Agency, and the EU. The returnees left Libya on April …

EU member states as well as Norway, Iceland and Switzerland granted protection status to 538,000 asylum seekers in 2017, according to new data released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, on Thursday. Another 24,000 refugees were resettled in the region last year. Last year’s asylum seeker figures represent a 25% drop from 2016, when 710,000 asylum seekers …

Eritreans whose asylum claims were denied but were allowed to remain in Switzerland on a temporary basis could lose their status due to a court ruling last year. In recent days, they have received a letter from the government stating that their residence permit is being reviewed. In August 2017, the Federal Administrative Court ruled that Eritrean nationals who had …

African migrants pose a greater threat to Israel than Islamist terrorism, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli leader made the remarks as he complimented the country’s border ‘wall’ with Egypt. Speaking at the Negev Conference in the Israeli city of Dimona, Netanyahu said the fence along the Israel-Egypt border is all that stands between Israel’s Jewishness and …

Africa and Europe-based institutions have just concluded a week-long training in Dakar to deepen understanding of migration-related issues and strengthen its media coverage on the continent. The workshop has received generous support from the Germany-based Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism of TU Dortmund University, the German magazine Africa Positive, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the African Media Initiative (AMI). …

Some 500,000 more people moved to Germany than left in 2016, Germany’s statistics office says. The figure is less than half that of the previous year. Net migration to Germany fell by more than half from 2015 to 2016, figures released on Tuesday by the German Federal Statistics Office show. Altogether 1,865,000 people came to Germany in 2016, while 1,365,000 …

Israel’s Supreme Court has suspended a controversial government plan to deport thousands of African migrants. The court issued its ruling on Thursday, following a legal challenge by a group of migrants from Eritrea and Sudan. The government now cannot deport African migrants until the court receives additional information Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in January announced the implementation of the programme …

Libya’s coast guard and an international charity ship have picked up hundreds of migrants who were travelling towards Italy off the Libyan coast on Saturday, according to press reports. Libya coast guard vessels intercepted two migrant boats, one of which was an inflatable dinghy that had broken down and was carrying 125 people, Reuters reported, citing coast guard spokesman Ayoub …

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), an agency of the UN, has opened a centre in Benin City to provide information on how to migrate legally and rehabilitate returnees from Libya or Europe. Speaking at the opening of the Migration Resource Centre (MRC) on Monday, Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, said Nigeria was finding it tough to …